Speak Your Mind: Heroines

You guys, I saw “Brave” over the weekend and, holy gawd, it was awesome. Just really, really great. There were a lot of young kids in the audience, as expected. Lots of boys and girls, which was great to see. Merida is a girl that totally kicks ass and follows her heart. She won’t compromise who she is to fulfill another’s ambition for her. She’s a character I completely identified with, which got me thinking about characters from my childhood.

Looking back, I can’t really think of any female characters I identified with or wanted to emulate. My favorite movie as a kid (ah, hell, it’s my favorite movie now) was “Ghostbusters.” I wanted to be Egon Spengler. I ran around my neighborhood capturing ghosts. (You’re welcome, neighborhood!)

There is nothing wrong with wanting to Egon Spengler. But the problem is that I can’t really think of female counterpart. Princess Leia? Yeah, sure. But I really wanted to be Yoda. Disney princesses were fun, but none really spoke to me. (Maybe Belle because of her love of reading. Not the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing.) Bert and Ernie were my favorite Sesame Street Muppets.

Of course, there were actual, IRL women to look up to. I was obsessed with Sally Ride for years. (In an adorable, little kid way.) One could make the argument that this particular heroine is better than having a million fictional ones. She has real life accomplishments. But it would have been nice to see someone like me capturing ghosts and lifting X-Wings out of the Dagobahean swamp.

Who are your heroines? Did you find them on your own, or did someone share them with you? What do you look for in a hero/heroine?

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